Armored Core : Connect
by Final-Freedom
Summary: When is a game no longer becomes a game? The war within the digital space where AC pilots determine their fates as well as the fate of the modern civilization. AU
1. Phase 1

Armored Core: Connect

|Phase 0-0: The World|

The year was 2018, and the world had taken a giant leap in terms of information technology. On the year 2015, a group of researchers at a multinational computers company had successfully created a quantum-based supercomputer artificial intelligence system incorporating high speed calculations and huge data reserves to integrate most, if not all of the world corporate and financial information transfer system. The system, which was dubbed the ANSWERER system, now helped calculate finance risks, political moves and even developmental strategies.

By mid-2016, most of the world media and network services are part of the new supercomputer high-speed network. The advancements of artificial intelligence created a world of much faster information propagation, where news and currency exchange happen on the fly and access to databases are easily available to everyone. The system had also changed the

Of course, this new paradigm wave in information technology did not leave the video gaming industry behind. With the advent of the new information age, an innovative new game Connect-02 was released during winter 2017 and is now the video game with the largest number of player world-wide. (Surpassing the fame of a fantasy MMORPG that was released about 10 years prior to it.)

|Phase 1-0: Haru Sakuraba|

Connect-02 World;

"Hey merc kid, can you read me?" An irritating male voice was heard through Haru Sakuraba's headphones, who was completely immersed in the Connect-02 world through the Razor-XV500 integrated visor/microphone/headphone gaming gear. For once Haru wished he would get a nice female operator for one of his missions, for all he know that guy could be a fat greasy guy sitting at the basement of his mother's house.

"Loud and clear… sir." Haru answered monotonously. He had no obligation to get all friendly with his operator, nor the other members of his current mission. He looked to his sides, the game's motion detector was amazing recreating that effect of shifting his vision according to the motion of his head, and saw 2 other Armored Core units next to his.

Armored Cores (AC) are giant mechanical weapons which are used by the pilots in the fictional world of Connect-02. Standing about 5-metres tall, these weapons are highly responsive and are highly customizable. In-game the ACs are fully customizable to the player's preference, from the weight of the frame to the weapons load-out and the color scheme of the mechanical monsters.

Haru assessed current situation quickly. His current mission is an ambush by Kisaragi on an opposing company's prototype weapons convoy which is en route to a nearby city from their outback R&D laboratory. His job is to take out all AC escorting the convoy as well as any other hostile units. The attack would be carried out at night on the most direct route to the city, on a desert route with two rocky canyons over both side of the road. The convoy would pass through the route while Haru's and another team of Kisaragi's forces would pour from the canyons and crush any resistance between them. A simple assault run.

His team is made of a heavy bipedal AC and quadruped support AC to complement Haru's own middleweight AC. The other ACs on his team are painted a uniform black and yellow to symbolize their undying allegiance to Kisaragi. Haru smiled slightly as he thought of them as nothing but a bunch of dogs on the corporations' leash.

"The convoy is within sight, initiate combat. Go go go!" the annoying operator shouted commandingly. Slightly harassed, Haru switched his AC from 'Normal Mode' to 'Combat Mode' with a push of a button. His AC's, which was christened the Conquista, H-11 QUEEN head camera flashed green for a second as his blue and white AC rose from the rocky cavern side of the desert. To his surprise however, gunshots and explosions could already heard from the combat zone. Kicking his boosters into action, Haru moved the Conquista to a higher rock formation to get a better view of what was going on down there.

To his surprise, the other Kisaragi team was ALREADY engaging the convoy defenders in a fierce firefight. Clearly the defenders had the upper hand, and several of Haru's friendlies had already been taken out. The defenders had less ACs than them, but had the advantage of having several tanks and armored vehicles equipped with missile launchers and chain guns.

"Operator, sitrep!" Haru barked into his microphone. Instantly a few tactical maps and charts sprung up on his visor and from the looks of it, things are not going too well.

"Looks like someone decided to pull a Leeroy Jenkins on us. Hahahaha!"

"Damn!" Haru slammed his fist on his desk. "Hey!" he shouted when the two ACs on his team also began to boost down the canyon slope, laying cover fire for their allies. "Pull back! Our lines have been broken!" Haru shouted, but to no avail. "DAMN IT!"

Furious, Haru fired the HYDRA2 and FUNI missiles from his AC's left shoulder into the air before firing up his boosters to join his allies in the chaotic attack. The bigger missiles split into 4 smaller missiles and rained down upon an unsuspecting tank, destroying it in a flash of explosions and fire. Not taking even a moment to admire his work, he activated his shoulder mounted FUNI relation missiles and HYDRA2 missiles. Taking to the air, he let loose the moment he got a solid lock on an enemy AC. The missiles rushed across the cool night sky, hitting the AC squarely in the back in a magnificent explosion.

The enemy AC was damaged slightly, and was very very unhappy about the back attack. Turning around, it turned to point its arm mounted grenade launcher to Haru's blue and white Conquista. A rocket propelled grenade round flew out of the launcher barrel, ready to bring a fiery death to the moderately armored Conquista. "Ugh!" with a grunt Haru pressed a few buttons on his control panel while at the same time struggling with his control levers; the Conquista responded by faking a left before jetting right, causing the grenade round to miss its mark completely.

In response, Haru lit up his FAIRY machine gun oh his AC's left arm and the CR-WR93RL linear rifle on his right. Hot lead sizzled between the ACs, some rattled on the enemy ACs core while some made more severe marks and tore pieces of armor off the blue AC. A few bullets breached to core and set off explosions which torched the AC middle up.

"Flank them! Don't let the convoy get away!" Haru shouted. A few hurried affirmatives and the Kisaragi forces reformed their assault formation, knocking down enemy units one after another. Haru was not about to be outdone, and picked out a missile truck with machinegun fire. Dual-wielding his guns, Haru assisted a Kisaragi AC in taking down an agile hover AC. Haru shot the floater in the legs, disabling its hover system and rendering the grounded and defenseless AC to be executed by the Kisaragi grunt.

Haru turned to his next prey, a middle-weight quad carrying a sniper rifle and medium-sized some dumb-fire rockets. This one was not having a uniform paint scheme unlike the other units on the defense forces. This AC's armor was maroon with white details, and the emblem was of an inverted skull.

_Mercenary. _Haru thought. _Just like me. This should be interesting. _He added, smiling to himself. The other mercenary must have thought the same thing, as he is headed straight for Haru, sniper rifle already trained on the Conquista. The shell came fast and deadly, a direct shot the Conquista's core. A swift movement from Haru moved the AC out of the way of the line of fire, but the AC was not fast enough and the bullet impacted on the Conquista's right shoulder, knocking the airborne Conquista's off balance and tumbling to the ground.

"You coward!" Haru cursed as the mercenary let loose his rockets on the fallen Conquista, rocking the AC and blurring the vision on Haru's visor. Working quickly to get his AC back on its feet, Haru barely managed to avoid the next round of rockets, though some managed to hit his AC's legs. Haru returned fire with his FAIRY machinegun together with his core's Exceed Orbit (EO) weapons, putting the pressure on his four-legged opposition. He let loose another round of missiles, which the quad struggled to evade.

Switching to his RL for added suppressive firepower, it was not long before the rest of the Kisaragi assault forces joined him in his attack. Weighing the virtually impossible odds, the quad mercenary turned tail and ran, the precious cargo left behind. Deciding not to give chase, Haru looked back at the cargo. He did not need the nerd-gasming operator to tell him "Mission Accomplished."

Tokyo, Japan;

Haru stretched on his greatly sore body. His gaming gear hung from his neck, which he then removed and placed next to his flat-screen LCD monitor. He had enough gaming for one morning, and he have to go to class soon. Dressing into his favorite blue T-shirt, black jeans and jacket, he then looked into a mirror to give some finishing touches to his spiky black hair, the skinny teenage boy picked up his bag and laptop computer. He then picked up the game gear again, connected it to his iPod Touch, and headed out.

New Tokyo University, Tokyo, Japan;

"Hey, did you hear?" a gossiping girl's voice caught Haru's attention. The girl was very fair, her face always lit up in a beautiful smile. She has the kind of laugh that could melt a guy's heart and you better not get Haru started on her eyes, which according to him, is the most beautiful in the whole wide world.

Exaggerations aside, the girl, Midori Hayashi, is one of the popular undergrad girls in Haru's Engineering Faculty. Well, who would not want to approach such a pretty and kind girl such as her? She's in Haru's classes, a freshman like him, and both of them were at the top of the class throughout their first year, but unlike her, Haru is not at all popular among his peers, and he would rather stay at home playing Connect-02 rather than go out for karaoke with the rest of the class. To put it simply, Haru is the geek of the class.

"Hey, everyone!" Midori stood up after their last lecture of the day. Everyone turned to give attention, except for Haru who was too focused on packing up and getting home for more Connect-02 action.

"I was thinking…. Let's start a Connect-02 group for our own class!" she called out. The word 'Connect-02' caught Haru by surprise, even more the idea of Midori Hayashi suggesting that everyone to play and join the group. What was even more surprising was that more than three-quarter of the class had also been playing the game, and the rest are planning to jump the bandwagon as well.

Haru watched in amazement as the whole class buzzed excitedly over the idea of the group. It is true that Connect-02 offered more than just Armored Core combat, but also offers simpler game types and also a world-simulation-like environment where people can meet and have many types of fun together. But Armored Core combat is what really most gamers see in the game, and is the main pull of the franchise.

Haru was not interested and quickly proceeded to exit the lecture hall in a hurry. However as he was riding the train back home, he could not stop but think about the possibilities he have with that new group Midori is forming… But then, there is that one small issue, he thought, as he looked at his game gear headphones, the deep ebony Raven symbol emblazoned upon it.

_To be continued…._


	2. Phase 2

Phase 1-1: Midori Hayashi

Hayashi Residence, Tokyo, Japan;

"The Blood Rose!" Midori Hayashi said happily, typing into her computer. She had just done showering and happily sitting in front of her computer with her favourite white bathrobes on. She was online on her webcam group, chatting with her friends. She had done her homework, and her assignments and projects are way beyond schedule, so she's pampering herself for a job well done. Right now she is in the middle of a guild-making process, and she is just about done.

"That's a nice name, Mii-chan… And good work on getting the guys to agree into this." One of Midori's friends, Haruka Matsuda commented. A slightly evil smile broke Midori's face, who was drying her long brunette hair on a blow-dryer. "Well, they were so eager to join in… It was not like I forced them to join… Hahaha!"

"You're EVIL, Midori…" another of her friends laughed.

"So, you going Connect later?" Haruka asked. The other, Yuki Mitsui asked the same thing. Sighing, Midori went over to her PC and picked up her own game gear. "I'm on my way guys, meet up near Shibuya alright?" smiling, she logged on to the game. The virtual reality world appeared around her, her senses completely meshed into the game.

She can see her avatar clearly, a slim brunette like her real self, though her hair is styled more radically to fit into the futuristic virtual environment. She wore a black sleeveless hoodie over red tank top, and khaki shorts with high khaki boots. In the game she wore clear thick framed glasses, as she did in real life.

She looked around and she is in virtual Shibuya, Japan and there were a lot of other avatars alongside hers in the game. Typing the words "BLOOD ROSE" opened a portal in front of her when stepped in teleported her to an empty white room with 2 other player avatars; Haruka in her purple trench-coat over business-like suit and Yuki, a short haired brunette in her white evening dress.

"Hey hey, this Home Base looks pretty sweet~" Yuki commented, whistling. Midori opened a command panel in front of Yuki, which had a furniture and appliance catalogue on them as well as a few other renovation options available for the Home Base. "I'm putting you in charge of interior decorating, Yuki-chan. I know you have amazing tastes."

"That I do, my dear." Yuki said, smiling happily. She pressed a few buttons on the panel and dragged her finger across it around and whenever she stops a new piece of furniture or computer panel appears in the recently-empty space. "I can do this all day!"

"Haru-chan, can you start adding people into the group? Our coursemates and friends? I believe you have most contact with them among us?"

"Sure thing, madam boss." Haruka pouted playfully and went to a newly purchased computer panel and started her work. A few seconds later she turned back to Midori, "Hey Mii-chan, there's a new mission by Mirage right here… You want to take it? Add some revenue to our guild early on?"

Midori called up another information display to her visor. "A support for an asssault on one of Kisaragi's base? Sounds simple enough… Sure, why not? I'll go get the White Blade ready…" She said monotonously to no-one. Haruka nodded understandingly and without being told signed Midori up for the mission. Determined, Midori walked out of the room.

"Mii-chan is always look so tough before she sorties for missions…" Haruka told Yuki, both of them smiling that same knowing smile. "Midori is strong… In the game, and in real life as well…"

A few minutes later…

Midori looked over the snowy field in front of her. Beyond it is a Kisaragi R&D base, where a stolen prototype weapon convoy had been taken to. Her mission is to destroy the base and the prototype weapon, and leave no witness to leave the combat zone. A simple raiding mission, just the way she likes it.

She took a second to go over her AC's configuration; her White Blade is a white bipedal middleweight AC, equipped with a high output generator and energy weapons. Going over the numbers again, she smiled her satisfaction.

"Mii-chan, mission will commence in ten seconds." Haruka's voice came through Midori's intercom, acting as her temporary operator. "We've confirmed enemy retaliatory forces in the base, a bunch of tanks, MTs and some cannon turrets. Nothing too big for you."

"Mirage promised a group of ground pounders to bring down the front gate for you, so you only have to contend with the defenses inside of the base." Haruka informed her pilot friend, who is already on her way towards the base. It was surprisingly quiet, and the promised ground forces was nowhere in sight.

"Mii-chan, watch out!" Haruka's warning came a bit too late. Explosions rocked the White Blade's fuselage, blurring Midori's sight. "MII-CHANN!"

"What the-! Damn it, where is he?" Midori's question was answered, right over the ridge to the east, where the ground forces were supposed to arrive, stood a blue and white AC aiming an RL linear rifle at her. She could see those

"Who the hell are you? Are you working with Kisaragi?" Midori asked, opening her chat to public channels. She trained her sights on the blue unknown AC, her fingers twitching on the trigger. The unknown AC did not fire any shots, but his rifle was still aimed at the White Blade.

"Callsign Valor, AC Conquista Raven's Ark." The blue AC pilot replied. The last two words of his reply shocked Midori so badly she let go of her controller. Her eyes widened as she lost her composure for a few seconds, when she spoke again her voice greatly quivered.

"S-Say what? Don't kid around with me, boy… A Raven would never take petty jobs such as this!" Midori shouted the second part of that, though some part of her could tell that he was telling the truth. A whole unit of Mirage's armored unit was just been simply wiped out, and the AC in front of her stood her with not even a dent on him.

"I never asked you to believe me."

"You….! You fired at me!"

"You are open to try and take me down, if that would make you feel any better."

"Ngggghhh!" He's right, Midori was simply itching to take knock that guy off his high horse, that would make her feel A LOT better. But with his reputation as a Raven, trying to attack him would be a bad decision… A VERY bad decision. Behind all the noises she could hear Haruka trying to reach her, but she cannot afford to take his eyes of this dangerous enemy.

"Are you going to fight? Or are you going to sit there admiring the scenery?" the Raven mocked.

Midori was silent for a moment. She took a deep breath and said in a surprisingly calm and composed manner.

"I am Midori Hayashi, pilot of the White Blade of the Blood Rose Guild. And I will complete my mission!" she announced confidently. She gave no quarter to the shocked Raven, and kicked her ATLAS core Overboost to motion. After a second of an all-too-friendly whirr of the jet engine behind her AC, Midori felt her AC fly forward at nearly 600km/h. The gap between them closed in a flash, and Midori took the advantage by firing her GRIFFON dual laser rifle at the enemy AC.

Her first shot missed her mark, the blue AC Conquista nimbly moving out of her crosshairs just in time. She felt her vision shook as a linear rifle slug hit her hard at point-blank range, the RL rounds nearly knocking her AC off balance. A few more shots hit her hard on the side, followed by a punishing hail of machinegun fire from the FAIRY machinegun on the Conquista's left arm and EO support units on the C98E2 core.

"MII-CHAN!" Haruka's voice broke through Midori's focus and the combat noises. "The mission is called off! That AC is a Raven's Ark AC! Get out of there, now!" Haruka shouted at her while she's getting pounded by more and more RL rounds. She tried to fight back with her GRIFFON and SHADE laser rifles but to no avail, the linear rifle rounds the Conquista is hitting her with shook her AC so badly that her aim is off by a large margin, and not helping that the Conquista is a very nimble machine at the hands of a very skilled pilot.

"Midori! Disengage, now!" Ignoring Haruka, Midori changed her tactics, Midori pulled away from melee range, using her Overboost again to claim some distance from the Raven. Turning around, she switched to her secondary weapons, the MAGORAGA micro missiles and JIKYOH vertical relation missiles combo. Before she could get a lock however, her vision was clouded by a swarm of missiles. The Conquista got her, using his own HYDRA2 and FUNI missile combo to catch the White Blade in a violent storm of explosives.

"Grrgghh!" Midori gritted her teeth as her AC feel to the sandy ground. Her left arm suffered extensive damages, and along with her back mounted MAGORAGA missile pack, had been rendered useless. The White Blade's legs were at 50% functionality and her Overboost system had shut itself down. Struggling, Midori brought her AC back to its feet, clearly at her current mobility level she is in no shape to take on a fully functional AC, much less to take on a Raven.

Frustrated, Midori's eyes started to red. She bit hard into her lips, which drew blood. She wanted to win.

"Go back."

"Excuse me?" Midori shouted, disbelieving her ears.

"Your mission had been called off, and mine was successful." The Conquista's pilot told her, his voice monotonous. "Your transport is already here. You have my word I won't shoot you down from the transport."

Midori looked up and saw a large transport chopper circling the combat zone.

"You dare…" Midori hissed. "YOU DARE LOOK DOWN ON ME?" she roared, firing her SHADE laser rifle at the Conquista. The shot hit the blue AC squarely in the shoulders, singeing thearmor, a black mark upon the painted blue metal. She fired again, this time hitting the AC's QUEEN head part. The Conquista's pilot did not retaliate, nor did he countered or dodge any of the attacks. In a coup de grace, the Conquista shot a linear rifle bullet into the SHADE laser rifle, disabling it completely. With that the White Blade lost all of its retaliatory ability.

Midori could do nothing as the pilot of the Conquista signaled for the transport chopper to come in and pick up the White Blade. She cannot accept it. She does not want to accept it. She wants to fight. She cannot lose like this! She will not accept this! NEVER!

"AHHHHH!" Midori screamed, slamming down her gaming gear onto the table while her AC was being hoisted into the transport chopper. She slammed her fists on her table with her tears pouring non-stop as her parents barged into the room looking shocked.

Tokyo, Japan;

Neither the clear blue sky nor the green grass of spring could raise Midori's spirit that following day. She is no more her cheerful happy self when she walked into the classroom that day, no more happy gossips and girly giggles. Her dark aura seemed to hamper the entire class; everyone fell silent the moment she walked in.

"Mii-chan?" Yuki tried to start a conversation, but was shrugged off completely. She put down her bag at her usual place in the hall, and walked up to the front of the class, where the lecturers usually gave their lectures.

Her eyes wandered to the boy that she always catches stealing glances at him. Sakuraba-something. He is unique guy, a lone wolf kind of guy. She never saw him with many friends, most of the time interacting with others for mutual benefit only. And he is kinda cute, not bad for an antisocial.

Back to the topic she wanted to raise, she looked at the class as a whole again giving them one of her winning smiles. "Guys, I know we talked about this before maybe just for fun… But, I am now seriously, seriously thinking of starting a Connect-02 group for all of us."

"Well, actually I had ALREADY made the group together with Haruka and Yuki and decided to call it the Bloody Rose." There was a collective murmur after this, and a lot of the students looked at each other, some nodding some not. That Sakuraba seemed quite surprised, but gave no explicit response. "I need your support everyone. My cause is one; and only one…" she looked around the class, clearly everyone was waiting for her announcement.

"My one cause is… To destroy the Raven's Ark."

Collective gasps and murmurs spread around the class. Midori herself could see the anxiety in the class at her announcement. "That is why… I will need everyone's cooperation for this. I believe we can do it, if we do it together!" she raised a fist to emphasize her point, but the response was still unfavourable.

"I agree with her."

Midori looked up and saw the Sakuraba-guy, Haru Sakuraba she remembered, standing up. He was looking straight at her with his deep black eyes. "We can do it."

There was quite a cheer after he said it. Everyone was rushing up to show their support and in no time everyone was chanting the name "Blood Rose" out loud as a show of support. They began registering for the guild and Midori as guild master received a stream of notification of people's request to join.

This is it, Midori thought to herself. A new legend is about to be born.

_To be continued…._


	3. Phase 3

Phase 1-2: The Blood Rose

Tokyo, Japan;

Haru Sakuraba set up in bed, reminiscing what happened two days ago in class when he stood up and made himself heard for the first time in his life. He supported Midori Hayashi's idea to form a Connect-02 guild for the whole class, voicing out his support of her cause. In return, he could have sworn that she smiled at him. Midori Hayashi, smiling at him. He could die happy now.

He lay back down onto his back. Turning to his sides, he saw his brand new gear, this one emblazoned with a red rose over a western-style sword. The Blood Rose emblem. Right next to it was his Raven's Ark emblazoned gear.

It is quite rare for someone to have more than one gear, since the gears are centrally connected to their Connect-02's account via the ANSWERER. Other than those who pay good money for them, a secondary gear is not usually issued. Haru was, for a lack of a better term, special.

He looked at both his gears and smiled, soon it would be one and the same.

* * *

><p>The Blood Rose, Shibuya, Japan, Connect-02 World;<p>

"So it seems like we've FINALLY got everything going," Haruka mentioned to Midori as they watched over the going-on of the guild. They had a pretty simple organizational structure, though quite 'flowery' in some sense thanks to a touch by Yuki the resident artiste.

The 'Rose' branch of the guild is dedicated to the top brass of the guild, those in charge of tactics and combat strategies as well as determining the growth and development of the guild. Administration and missions are under the jurisdiction of this branch, which is led by the Guild Leader Midori Hayashi.

The 'Root' branch is a branch which is tasked to keep the Guild well-supplied and logistically efficient. They are the ones in contact with the arms' dealers and transport agencies. This branch is led by Hiroshi Saotome, who is also a pilot for the Guild.

The 'Thorn' branch is responsible for the Guild's defense. This branch protects the Home Base and is also responsible for the Mobile Base, which patrol in tandem with the JSDF (Japanese Self Defense Forces) forces around the Kanto area. This branch is led by Kira Miyazaki, a skilled pilot and was a member of the JSDF before joining the Blood Rose. They work in close tandem with the Root to organize the bases defenses as well as weapons purchase for the defense unit.

As the leader of the Blood Rose, Midori pilots her modified White Queen alongside Kira, Yuki and Haruka on the frontlines. Their team, Rose I, had been ranked quite greatly in the Global Leaderboards, clearing each and every mission presented to them with relative ease. Surprisingly, following close behind them were the team Rose IX, led by Hiruma Ruka.

Speak of the devil and he shall come, just as Midori were thinking about them, the team Rose XI walked into the Home Base from the hangar, apparently successfully completed their mission. She walked up to them as they were going to report their success at the mission counter.

"Good work on that Kisaragi mission, guys." She said, smiling. Other than Hiruma, the rest of them formed a straight line and saluted. One of them was Haru Sakuraba, the guy who first supported this guild's formation. "Oh, c'mon guys… Trash the formality, we're friends aren't we?"

Hiruma laughed and motioned his team members to relax their poses. There were small laughs amongst them as they fell back to their laid back usual selves. "How are you, Rose Leader? Everything fine? How's Mr. Universe?" Hiruma rolled his eyes as he said that, he was referring to Kira, whom was quite well known as a rugby player for the university.

"I don't know what you're talking about, Ninth Leader." She rolled her eyes, she had told them not to call her Rose Leader out of combat. "I'm glad to see your team doing exceedingly good in your missions. Good job!" she said enthusiastically, patting the taller avatar on the shoulders.

"Thank you. Ma'am." To him, who has JSDF experience before joining the university, he expected a stricter martial protocol even in game. "But most of the credit should go to Mister Haru here, he pulled our behinds out of the fire more times than we could count, and we're engineering students mind you…"

Not exactly surprised, Midori acted it well, she looked at him who is, as usual, had his focus somewhere else. Something about that bothered her a little, what is it that Haru is looking at?

"Well, I'll be looking forward to our next mission then."

"Our?" Hiruma raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, Rose I and Rose IX will participate in a joint mission. Rose Leader's orders!" she said, winking at him. "The mission will commence in an hour's time, so get your ACs fixed by then!"She said before walking away, smiling. It took only a few steps before that smile faded into a dignified determination.

"Hey Haru," Hiruma nudged Haru on the IM. They were 10 minutes away from their mission with team Rose I, and both of them had done all the necessary adjustments to their ACs. "So, what do you think about our chances in beating the Leader in taking the top spot in the Guild?"

There was no answer. Haru kept his silence and continued his work on his AC, the new Libertar AC, a middleweight AC with twin rifles and small missiles. Haru looked at his new AC with a look of slight disgust. It is not as accommodating as his old Conquista, but he had to make do with this one while he's not in the Ark. Apparently, he ignored his team leader completely.

"I think we can take 'em," Hiruma answered himself. "Our next mission is a guerrilla attack on the Crest's 4th Battalion FOB (Forward Operation Base), and our pay depends on the number of enemies we manage to destroy! It's a race, man! Whichever of us kills the most gets the most cash in for the Guild, and that is how they rank the teams! If we beat the Leader in this, we'll take the throne!" He jumped up and down with raw excitement.

"And do what?" Haru lifted his eyes to face his leader. His stern eyes never faltering.

Hiruma thought for a second, apparently caught off guard by the question."Hurmmm…. I dunno… But, it's nice to have some bragging rights to go around with right?" He grinned childishly, no one would ever guess he's a university student by his antics.

Haru looked at him blankly. Surely if he wanted bragging rights, he's sure had it already right now. He grinned alone in his room in real life.

"We'll show them! Rose IX is gonna kick some serious butt!" Maki Homura cheered from across the hangar. She and another of Rose IX's pilot were on the other end of the hangar also attending to their own ACs. Maki is a cheerful girl whose avatar sports a shocking pink hairdo and wears a surprisingly skimpy outfit.

The other pilot Shinji Rokushou did not turn to face his teammates but nodded his agreement to Maki. The silver haired kid is always a social outcast, even in class.

Himura grinned, looking at his teammates/classmates with pride. He was about to say something when suddenly, an alarm sounded, and the four of them looked up. It is time for action. "Let's go team! Rose Ninth…"

"CRUSH 'EM!" the chatroom echoed with their enthusiastic voices.

* * *

><p>There was a roar of jet engine as four transport planes flew over the calm canyon skies near the Crest's FOB. Two ACs are attached to the underbelly of each planes, a total of 8 ACs in total.<p>

"Alright people, listen up!"Kira, the head of the Rose Guild 'Thorn' branch heading up everyone on teams I and IX. "We're approaching the combat zone from the east, where intel had suggested the defenses would be the lightest. It is a secondary logistic route for them, thus not often used and is lightly defended with some AI ACs and minimal turret defense." He explained, marking out a tactical map on everyone's visor with a red cross. Haru watched the briefing silently, something else going through his mind. "That would be our landing zone."

2 dotted lines extended from the cross and connected to other red crosses in the middle of the map. "We'll split according to our groups here, and commence a blitzkrieg attack from there. We have 180 seconds. After 180 seconds we'll retreat to our designated extraction points and get out of here. Are we clear?"

"So we have 3 minutes to blow up as much as we can?" Himura asked.

"Yes. Pay will be determined by the number of enemy assets destroyed. Do your best, Team Ninth." Midori said, smiling determinedly. In her mind she grinned, determined not to be outdone by her fellow classmates.

"Roger that, Rose Leader."

"Are we ready? Let's do this!" Kira announced, just as the planes approached the designated landing zone. Everyone's visor switched back to their AC control screen, all indicators showing green. "Mission is a go! Let's do this people! Move!" Hiruma shouted to his teammates the moment the grappling hook on his AC is released. He and Maki gave a loud cheer as they dropped to the skies, quickly approaching terminal velocity.

Descending from the skies, Hiruma's camo-green heavy reverse jointed AC, the Tropic Quake landed hard on the canyon grounds. Next to him Haru's blue bipedal Libertar fired his booster before landing, softening the impact. Haru took a second to look around when something caught his eyes. Something else fell from a height similar as them in the far distance. Maki and Shinji's respective ACs, the Sunlight Magic and CrossBlader landed beside him, no one else seeing what he saw.

Midori's White Blade and Haruka's red-black bipedal Monstro landed side by side while Yuki's quadruped Lioness and Kira's tank-legged Abrams behind them. Team I quickly got into action, Midori's newly upgraded White Blade dual wielding her SKULL2 and GRIFFIN laser rifles to great effect, destroying the missile turrets that had open fire upon them. The purple and blue lasers flashed between the AC and the turrets, the defensive emplacements no match for the mobile weapon.

Beside her, Kira's Abrams super heavy AC used its heavy weapons to support his team leader's charge, grenade rounds flying through the air and blasting apart the defending enemy ranks like hot knife through butter. With Haruka's vertical missiles supporting their advance, the Team I vanguard units seemed unstoppable.

Haru kicked his Libertar into motion, weaving his way around the turrets' missile barrage and armored units with great skill. He did cringe however when his AC seems to be unable to respond quickly enough to his inputs and took a few minor hits on its armor. His cost-saving FCS also took some time to get a solid lock for his NYMPH2 missiles, which he lets loose on the rest of the defending turrets. The resulting explosions were enough to break a grin on Haru's cold face as he flew through the cloud of dust to find his next prey.

The defending forces made quite a speedy recovery from their assault and came with waves of attack choppers and armored vehicles. The high-caliber tank rounds prove to be quite a threat to the ACs, which spreads out to allow more room for evasive maneuvers. Hiruma's Tropic Quake boosted high into the sky.

"This one's mine!" Hiruma shouted, his heavy AC landing squarely on top of an enemy tank, crushing it instantly. He activated his arm mounted grenade and rocket launchers, laughing maniacally in the process, before letting loose a barrage that did nothing short but decimated the enemy defense lines surrounding him. Not wanting to be outdone, Haru Overboosted past his team leader, firing his twin rifles at the overhead choppers, dropping them like flies as the bullet storm shredded them to pieces.

"Capt… questin… assistance… … …. Enemy AC….. GAAAHHH!" An attempt at communication by Maki, which was covered by static, caught everyone's immediate attention. She, Shinji and Yuki was separated when the tanks' volley fire split their forces and is now at the west of the area of operation (AO). "The enemy is too powerful!" Yuki's panicked took over, before her screams was drowned by more static. Even Shinji's voice showed panic as more static took over the airspace.

"The enemy is jamming our communications!"

"We need to get to them!"Hiruma did not wait for the others and Overboosted towards the trio's last known location. "Haru!"

"Hiruma! Haru!" Midori screamed as Haru activated his own Overboost to follow his leader's lead. Turning back to Haruka and Kira, she shouted her orders. "Follow them! We need to save those three!" Kira nodded while Haruka answered with a short "Roger." Their team's total weight is greater than Team IX's, making Midori sweat with worry as Haru and Hiruma flew further away and out of sight towards the potentially dangerous enemy.

"MAKI!" "SHINJI!" Hiruma shouted, his eyes widening when he arrived at the scene of what seemed to be a massacre. Maki, Shinji and Yuki's ACs lie in charred ruins. There was also a black AC standing amidst the three, its head part nothing as Hiruma had ever seen before. "YOU!" he shouted at the black AC, hailing it. "Did you do this?" He demanded angrily.

"And what if I did?" the man answered simply. He is clearly mocking the seemingly younger Hiruma, or rather, mocking his rage. The black AC raised its weapon, which Hiruma recognized as the top-tier KARASAWA-type laser rifle, to the Tropic Quake's face, challenging it, taunting Hiruma.

Enraged, Hiruma batted the rifle aside, firing his left arm-mounted rocket launcher. To his surprise, the light framed, though heavily armed, AC moved with unbelievable acceleration and avoided his point-blank shot. The black AC countered with a point-blank KARASAWA shot, the energy blast exploding on the Tropic Quake's core, sending its temperature to the red zones. Though Hiruma's radiators did a good job cooling his AC back down, the shock of such a quick attack left Hiruma open for an assault from the black AC's assault handgun. High-caliber bullets pebbled against his AC's heavy armor, tearing some metal off the green painted reverse-joint AC.

Hiruma faught valiantly, but his AC is far outclassed by the black AC in terms of speed and is easily flanked by the faster AC. Cursing, he fired his rockets blindly attempting to catch the swift AC with an attack heavy enough to stun it. His efforts were not doing any good anyway as his Tropic Quake was pummeled with high-energy rounds as the black AC circled him continuously.

Changing his mind, Hiruma turned on his AC's overboost system. The momentary whirring of the jet engines filled his ears before the his AC was send flying forward at high speed. Just as he calculated, his sudden burst of speed caught the black AC off-guard, ramming straight into the lighter AC. Both ACs fell to the ground, the heavier Tropic Quake pinning the black AC beneath its overwhelming mass.

"EAT THIS!" Hiruma switched to his CR-YWR03HNR arm mounted rocket launchers and fired explosive rounds after rounds into the black AC's Core. The black AC rocked with every hit, but did not yield. In an effort, the black AC fired his CR-YC010/UL2 core's overboost system, the force of the thrust pushed the heavier green AC off itself. Hiruma roared in fury as he is knocked off-balance by the maneuver only to face a KARASAWA barrel in his face.

"Hiruma!" Haru arrived at the scene a few seconds later, just in time to see Hiruma's AC's head get blasted off by the black AC's KARASAWA shot at point-blank, the blue energy beam piercing through the green EYE-3 head part. Haru noticed the black AC's design and felt his heart drop. He'd known that AC anywhere. One of the Raven's Ark's ace pilots, the Death Reaper of the East Asian region, and more importantly, Haru's old rival. "Saito."

* * *

><p><em>To be continued… <em>


	4. Phase 4

**Phase 1-3: Aces**

Two giant ACs stood face-to-face across each other, surrounded by ruined base constructs and fallen ACs and weapons.

"Saito, why are you here?" Haru asked through a private communication channel. The black AC turned his laser rifle onto the Libertar, its pilot laughing back to Haru. "Why did the Ark gave such petty jobs to an 8th Ranker pilot? This mission is supposed to be a low-rank mission." Haru shouted back, his WR01R-SHADOW rifle trained defiantly at the black AC.

"And may I ask what one of the Original Five is doing in a class-D team such as this… Blood Rose?" Saito said mockingly, the last two words said with such disgust it was as if it was an absolute filth to his mouth. "How the mighty have fallen."

"That. Is. None of your business." Both of the Libertar's rifles are on the black AC now, Haru's fingers tightening on his triggers. His brow sweated a little, he knew he may not stand much of a chance against the black AC, the Archfiend , in his toned down AC. If only he has his Conquista right now…

"Oh, really? But this mission IS my business! And I plan on completing it, perfectly." Saito laughed again. He boosted his AC back a few meters. "Let's have a good fight shall we not? Raven's Ark Ranker number five!" Haru did the same. He had no choice but to fight now.

"Let's do this!" both pilots shouted at the same time. Simultaneously, both ACs boosted to their respective rights, the first shots fired by Haru, who's SHADOW and SPECTRE rifles rained hot lead upon the black Archfiend . The difference between the two ACs in terms of mobility is very apparent though, the Archfiend dodging most of the Libertar's shots easily. While still taking damage, the Archfiend returned the pressure on the Libertar by firing rounds off its CR-WH01HP assault handgun with a few shots of its own KARASAWA laser rifle in between.

The Libertar took a few direct KARASAWA shots directly, the armor integrity of its core decreasing drastically with every landed hit. The HP handgun rounds were almost as deadly, chipping off the armor with every shot. Haru grunted as he is forced to desperately push his AC to dodge the opponent's shot for the hundredth time, though his focus is far from diminished. He saw an opening in the Archfiend's assault, and countered with his own rifle attacks, forcing the black AC to defend yet again.

Changing his tactics, Haru swerved behind a charred enemy building, turning sharply to blindside his opponent while unleashing a barrage of his NYMPHE missiles. Haru could hear Saito cursing while his missiles overwhelmed his ACs vision, heavily damaging his AC's armor in the process.

Boosting out of the cloud of smoke from the explosion, the Archfiend had damaged its head part, sparks coming out of chasms of broken armor. Beyond that, the Archfiend is still combat operational, but flew back a few meters to regain his bearings. This however, was not permitted by Haru, whom launched himself into another determined assault with his twin rifles. Saito defensively used his mobility advantage to put more distance between him and Haru before firing his KARASAWA in retaliation.

To Saito's surprise, the shot hit, but Haru never faltered his charge. Instead, Haru fired up his CR-C840/UL core's Overboost system, which sent the Libertar into a jousting charge towards the Archfiend , guns blazing along the way.

"RAAAHHH!" Haru ed as the bullets of his twin rifles tore into the already damaged Archfiend 's fuselage, sending explosions rocking the scarred black AC. Now the black AC is no condition to fight, its body scarred by the hailstorm of bullets. The AC's gyro system is barely able to keep the AC upright as Saito hailed Haru on the intercom again. The first thing that Haru heard was Saito's maniacal laughter.

"As expected of one of the Originals…" He laughed again before turning around and boosting away. Haru looked back at his fallen allies; surely they had been ejected by now. That was when an alarm went off, the mission's 3 minutes duration is up. That's when Midori, Haruka and Kira caught up with him, a split second before their transports arrive to take them away from the combat zone.

* * *

><p>Back at the Bloody Rose Home Base, Hiruma confronted Haru as they were handling their ACs' repairs and rearmament.<p>

"Yo, Haru." He hailed him over to his hangar. Haru did not answer, but Hiruma was cool with that. He had known his teammate by now and knew that this is normal behavior for Haru Sakuraba.  
>"I saw what you did out there man, you're amazing." He walked over to Haru's hangar.<p>

"You.."

"That black AC didn't finish me off. I'm still there, immobilized really, but my core's auxiliary cameras were still functional." He said simply, enjoying the disbelief and tension in Haru's response. His avatar put a hand on Haru's shoulder. "Chill it. I knew since the beginning you're not a newbie to this game, you just made a separate identity for your avatar just to join us, right?"

"I…"

"Don't mention it!" Hiruma laughed heartily again. "I'll keep your secret, whoever you really are, until you're ready to tell us. Okay buddy?" Before Haru can answer, the Rose IXth leader walked away, humming away to a famous J-Pop tune.

Even through cyberspace, Haru could feel the warmth of friendship from his

_A few minutes later..._

"YOU'RE KIDDING ME." Hiruma shouted. "YOU MUST BE FREAKING KIDDING ME!"

"I'm NOT!" Midori giggled. In front of them, plus Kira, is a line graph and some tables. Hiruma looked at it in denial, as it is shown that Rose XI had lost to Rose I in terms of earnings for the last mission.

"Our boy, Haru, kicked that AC's ass into next week! Surely that counts right?"

"Oh, yes it is. But, your team lost 3 ACs in that mission. So subtracting the costs for repairs and parts replacements, you guys earned only 3,120 credits. Team Rose I earned a net total of 103,500 creds." Midori said proudly. "So, we won." Beside her, Kira smiled proudly. "The title of strongest team in Bloody Rose stays with us."

"NOOOOO!"

""Better luck next time, Ninth Leader."Midori walked out of the briefing room, she would not be able to handle Hiruma's ranting accompanied by Kira by her side. "So, Midori, I guess I'll see you later?" Kira told her, putting his hand on her shoulder. She nodded, and his avatar disappeared. A few seconds later, her avatar disappeared as well.

* * *

><p><strong>Tokyo, Japan, Real World;<strong>

Haru stretched his sore arms and legs. He removed his headgear and put it beside his desktop computer. He then opened his bedside fridge, wanting some cool refreshment after such an intense battle. He reached inside but his fingers wrapped around nothing but cold air.

"Damn." He cursed as he looked inside. His supply of Coca-Cola is fresh out of stock. Sighing and cursing, he went back to his computer and set his avatar to idle. He then went to his closet and removed his favorite jacket from the hangers. Checking for his wallet and phone, he did not forget to lock his door before heading out.

Haru hated whenever he had to go to the mall to get something. It is not because he hated going out or in any way anti-social or anything. It is just his little shopaholic problem that usually kept him at the mall for hours at a time. He said to himself "_Just get the drinks and go home. C'mon Haru, no sidetracking."_

Even as he was saying that, something else caught his eyes. No, not an electronic gadget. Not a new video game. Nor is it a designer jacket.

It was Midori.

Upon further inspection, he saw Kira beside her. Both of them are smiling and laughing, and she was on his muscular arm, pulling on it playfully. Haru sighed. He would have knocked himself in the head, he was being so stupid. What was he thinking? That he had a chance with Midori, just because he stood up for her proposal for the Bloody Rose team?

He laughed quietly to himself. Stupid Haru. So stupid. Grinning sheepishly to himself, he walked away from the happy couple.

"Hey, Sakuraba!" Midori saw him and waved enthusiastically. He did not realize at first while she was pulling Kira by the arm in his particular direction.

The call woke Haru up from his thoughts. He looked up and saw Kira and Midori walking up to him. He had to bite his lips a little to make sure that this was not a dream. It hurts, so it was not a dream.

"Kira. Hayashi-san."

"Don't see you out often, you live around here Sakuraba-kun?" Midori asked, looking up to him with her beautiful brown eyes. Her smile is so pure and innocent; Haru could not help but choke a little before replying.

"I live just around the block from here. I'm here just to buy some drinks…"

"I see… Me and Kira here was just talking about you just now! How about we have a drink over by that café? I have something to ask you anyway… I was hoping to talk to you about it in class tomorrow, but since we're already here…." Haru could not deny her, so he nodded and followed the pair to the quaint little café just outside the mall. They took a beautifully decorated table for three, and each ordered coffee. Midori ordered a banana split ice-cream alongside that.

"So, what was it that you wanted to ask me?"

"This." Midori pulled out a mini-tablet computer from her handbag and opened a file. To Haru's surprise, a video of his battle against Saito was playing on the tablet. He watched the battle unfold once again until the end, but said nothing. He did not expect this.

There was a moment of silence after the video ended. Kira and Midori watched Haru for his reaction, but the latter showed no change in his posture. He just watched the tablet as the battle replayed for the second time. Midori eyed Haru intently, her brown eyes probing his black. Kira was watching both her and Haru simultaneously, looking away only as the waiter came and set their coffees in front of them.

"So?" Kira asked, impatient. Haru's eyes broke away from the tablet computer and looked Kira straight in the eyes. "'So?' What?"

"It's a victory for Blood Rose is it not?" Haru said simply, smiling while taking a sip from his coffee. His eyes went back to meet Midori's before turning back to Kira's. "Is there anything wrong with it?"

Kira stood up suddenly, furious at Haru's indifference of the situation. "Can't you see?" He snatched the tablet from in front of Haru, and pressed a few buttons on the screen. It now showed the data on the Archfiend's . To put it more properly, a VERY DETAILED data on the Archfiend's .

" This guy, Saito Kurayanagi, is a Raven. Do you understand what I meant? A Raven from the legendary Raven's Ark." Kira literally shoved the data to his face. Midori just stood by while "Not just any Raven as well; he's also a Ranker. What's more? His rank is 8th in the Raven's Ark."

"You mean, I beat someone really strong." Haru replied defiantly. "Unless you're promoting me I don't see the big deal in all this."

"We ARE promoting you, Sakuraba-kun." Midori interjected. "You will be made the leader of Rose IX…"

"And take Hiruma's place?" Haru interrupted her, much to her surprise. "No thank you. He's my friend and an amazing leader as well." Haru looked away from her awe-stricken face and continued. "This discussion is going nowhere. If you'll excuse me, I'd have somewhere else I need to go. See you online."

Before anyone could stop him, Haru put his money next to his half-full coffee, pulled up his grocery bag and walked out of the café. Kira and Midori could only watched, the latter with mixed emotions, which parts of it was not understandable to even her own self. Kira was shaking with fury, fists clenched and teeth gritting, he put his money down as well and pulled Midori out of the café.

* * *

><p><strong>?, Connect-02 World;<strong>

Haru's avatar was in an uncharted place, sitting on a marble throne and wearing a dark hood over his head. There were four other thrones beside him, all in a circle around a table, with 2 other hooded men and 2 women. The scenery around them was not realistically rendered as other places in the Connect-02 World, where it is more cyberspace-esque and the concept of physics seem to not apply in whatever dimension they were in.

"Data transfer is currently at 78%" one of the hooded men spoke. "Everything is going according to plan." There was a murmur amongst the others as he said that.

"It's taking quite long is it not? What is 'The ANSWERER' dawdling around for?" another person spoke up, this time a woman. "We've been waiting forever for 'them'!"

"The question is." Haru spoke up. "Do we need 'their' power in this new world? Can't we start anew without resorting to another war?"

"The quicker we're done with this, the better. This world grow rotten with every passing moment." Another man said, followed by an exclamation of disgust from him. "The uprising had begun yet again. It may soon break out of control. We need 'them' to be the deterring force on our side, if we want to maintain peace."

"Wars are being fought, and the strong is freely oppressing the weak."

"We can't allow another Dismantlement War. We are the only ones that can stop it." The first man spoke up again. This was met with heavy agreement from all sides, even Haru though begrudgingly. "Thus, we shall need to reacquire their powers. And once again fight for the sake of all."

As everyone reached a silent agreement, the digital space around them dimmed. Soon, it was all dark.

_T__o be continued…._


	5. Phase 5

_**Phase 1-4: Rivalry**_

It was another usual day for Haru Sakuraba. He is in his usual favorite clothes, had his usual breakfast and is on his way to class, as usual. It had been a whole weekend since the last mission which involved Haru against Saito, which raised Haru's online fame by quite a lot. It was finally after the last class when something unexpected happened.

Kira Miyazaki, the Blood Rose's Thorn branch leader, stopped him from leaving the class.

"What do you want, Kira?" Haru asked, irritated as he had planned to get home as soon as possible. He tried to brush the other man off, but Kira was persistent and not to mention twice as beef as him. "Hey!"

"I challenge you to a duel." Kira said, pushing Haru back towards the class. "An AC duel."

"Why?"

"I want to beat you in front of the whole class, and prove to them that you winning against that Raven was nothing but pure luck." Kira answered sharply, setting up his laptop computer and putting on his gaming gear. In front of him was another table where Haru assumed where he is expected to sit during this duel.

Haru looked around. Every other students, even those not from his class and repeating students, are watching him. It looks like there is no way out.

"Fine. I accept your challenge." Haru said firmly and set up his gaming gear as well.

* * *

><p><strong>Blood Rose Base Training Area, Shinjuku, Connect-02 World;<strong>

Haru's Libertar and Kira's Abrams stood against one another. Kira's Abrams was large and menacing, its brown camouflaged armor reminiscent of the battle tanks used by the American army in the recent past. It has heavily armored tank legs, with twin grenade cannons mounted on its back. Its entire core was fully armored, and not to mention armed to the teeth with multiple other solid weapon armament.

Haru had switched out his Libertar's twin rifles for two different weapons, a DEMON pulse rifle on his right arm and a WL06M-FAIRY machine gun on his left. He did this specifically to counter Kira's heavy armor, though only a gamble at best.

In the real world, the two combatants sat opposite one another. Kira was glowering at Haru, though the latter was completely absorbed in his game that he did not realize it. Between them, next to the tables, Midori stood an umpire of sorts. She stood proudly with her right hand up. With a swing of her right arm, she declared, "Let the duel…. BEGIN!"

Haru did not hear the cheers, as he powered up his Libertar and in a quick reflex move, dodged left to an opening grenade round from Kira's Abrams dual back weapon. The high-explosive rounds soared, just minutely missing the Libertar, before impacting into a wall behind the blue AC and exploding magnificently. Kira was not about to give Haru any room to breathe though, as he switched from his back weapons to his arm mounted CR-WH05RLA linear rifle and fired three rounds in quick succession.

A blast from the linear rifle hit and shook the Libertar badly, causing Haru to bite back a curse. He lifted his pulse rifle to counter the attack, but before he could pull the trigger, another linear round was sent at him. "Dammit!" Haru shouted, as he was only able to dodge continuously from Kira's relentless attacks.

Haru considered pulling back and regrouping, but seeing that the Training Area was just a dome which is seemingly the right size for the Abrams' attack range, he decided against it. He was forced to dodge again, but this time countered with a 10-lock salvo of his own NYMPHE2 missiles plus 4 CR-E84RM2 extension part relation missiles. The missiles soared right towards the Abrams, the heavyset tank-legged AC unable to move out of the way in time due to it being greatly slowed down by its own weight.

Kira chuckled lightly at Haru's desperate struggle as his enemy's missiles closes in on his AC. At that instant he activated his core's anti-missile system (AMS) as well as the SUIGETSU extension AMS. The 4 smaller machine-guns on the AC's core and the laser beam emitter on its shoulders fired at once, clearing the space in front of the Abrams of the Libertar's missiles. Haru grimaced as his attack is once again foiled.

Haru refused to give up, though. He raised his DEMON pulse rifle once again, firing against Kira's relentless linear rifle assault together with his FAIRY machine gun. Haru could only watch as his machine gun rounds bounce off harmlessly upon Kira's armor or missing completely at such extreme range while the energy pulses left nothing but minute scorch marks upon the brown painted metal.

A single grenade rounds whizzed past Haru once again, exploding loudly over his head. Haru raised his twin barreled pulse rifle again, but took a grenade round to the core. The impact of the shot tossed Haru's Libertar back and down into the ground. Haru fired his boosters to avoid landing hard on the ground, just in time to use the acceleration of that move to avoid a hail of bullets from the Abrams' NIX machinegun.

"Is this the strength that defeated the Raven?" Kira declared loudly for everyone to hear. "I guess it WAS just a fluke! You're nothing, Haru! NOTHING!"

Haru did not answer, but rather focused on his assault; another missile barrage was launched which was swatted out of the air by the Abrams' AMS. To Kira's (and everyone else's) amazement, Haru used the cloud of smoke left behind by the missiles to close in on the Abrams using his Overboost.

"WHAT?" Kira exclaimed, firing his NIX machinegun in panic, but that was not enough to stop Haru. He dropped Libertar's left arm machine gun and replaced it with his stored YWL16LB-ELF3 laser blade. A single swipe of the bright orange blade tore off the Abrams' right arm, where the linear rifle was held. "NO!" another slash and another arm flew off, taking away the NIX machine gun.

With both arms lost, Kira desperately fired his twin grenade cannons trying to fend off the Libertar from further carving up his Abrams. The attack did push back the Libertar but it was a futile move, the nimble Libertar was able to dodge the few remaining shots left in the cannon and soon the Abrams was completely drained of its ammunition.

"No…. freaking… way…." Kira gasped, along with about half of the class audience. Haru just smirked, his victory assured. He made one final dash towards the disarmed Abrams, the AMS machineguns desperately firing ineffectively at the blue AC. A final slash was the coup de grace, and the Abrams lay in defeat at the heart of the training facility and Haru stood the victor, all with the rest of the class as witnesses.

There were a few moments where nobody spoke nor moved. It was Midori's friend, Yuki that first exclaimed in delight before a cheer rose amongst the class. Some was clapping and some ran to congratulate Haru personally. A few of Kira's closest friends went to him, but was swatted away by him. He quickly packed his things and left.

"Well well, it looks like your skills were the real deal after all." Midori told Haru, whom was getting overwhelmed by the celebrating crowd. He could feel a blush creeping up his face, but kept his cool. Beside her, Hiruma stood grinning.

"I knew it buddy! I never doubted your abilities for a single second! Hey everyone, this guy is in my team! No taking him away!"

"Thanks." Was all Haru could muster, and a weak smile in return to Hiruma's enthusiasm. The larger guy grabbed him by the neck and shouted. "Who's up for Karaoke tonight? We're celebrating our big hero here!" Haru was the swung around like a rag doll, receiving slaps in the back from his friends. There was a lot of cheering and some of them chanted Haru's name.

There was a cheer of excitement while Haru excused himself to escape the growing mob. Without him knowing, Midori had followed him out of the class, and she caught up to him just as he was about to exit the faculty building. She grabbed his shoulder and pulled him to the side of the faculty building.

"Hey."

"U-Uh… Hayashi-san... Hey." Caught off guard, Haru could not stop himself from stuttering.

Midori smiled, he enjoyed seeing the boy fluster so much. "You were great back there; you sure have a real talent for piloting."

"T-Thank you."

"Oh, drop the formalities." Midori gave Haru her best smile yet, who blushed madly when he saw this. "Call me Midori."

"M-Midori-san?"

"Not quite, but I think that's alright." Midori kept smiling. She pressed a piece of colored paper into Haru's hand. "So, I guess I'll be needing your strength from now on, Mr. Raven-Killer." She winked and walked away, leaving Haru is his still awe-struck state.

* * *

><p><strong>Sakuraba Residence;<strong>

Haru could not believe it. He had been on his computer desk chair for almost an hour, his mobile phone in one hand, a familiar piece of paper on another. The paper was open and on it was a set of numbers. Midori Hayashi's phone number.

He had been at it for hours, fiddling with the piece of paper in hand.

"Should I… Shouldn't I…. She gave it to me… So maybe I should…"

He began to dial in the first three numbers, but deleted them. He got up and paced around in his room, his hand juggling his phone.

"Maybe it is just for emergencies… Maybe… Ahhh, this is complicated!"

As he shouted, a different sound came from his computer. The Connect-02 program was on, and there was a message for him. Or rather, a news update from the Raven's Ark. Putting his phone down, he skimmed the attached news bulletin.

His eyes fixed over the news of his recent victory over Saito, head-lined: "RANK 8 DEFEATED? NEW TEAM UP AND RISING STAR" the news included an exclusive video feed on the battle, which was obtained from an AC participating in the combat.

"Hiruma." Haru sighed as he realized that. He continued reading as the news even reported briefly about the new team. Another part of that news also showed that Saito had been demoted from the 8th rank for tricking the system in order to accept a low-rank mission as well as a warning for preying on weaker teams.

The news did raise the notoriety of the Blood Rose team, especially within the ranks of the Ark. It is usual that teams that are featured on the Raven's bulletin become prime targets for uprising Ravens. It could get dangerous for the team, Haru thought but caught himself. He is worried about the team? He chuckled to himself.

There was another piece of news that caught Haru's eyes. It was on the current Raven's Ark arena ranking. A single Raven, named Kaede Hoshino, was rising quite quickly through the ranks and is currently ranked at B-12 with her middleweight AC, the Imperial.

The ranking system of the Raven's Ark arena is based on 5 grades and separate rankings between the rankings. Rank E Ravens are Ravens that perform badly or does not join the arena battles, while Rank D, C and B Ravens are numbered according to skill. Rank D has 30 ranks; C has 20 while B has 15. Rank A Ravens are 10 of the top Ravens in the Ark, and only these 10 would be referred officially as 'Rankers', i.e. Rank 8 Saito and Rank 5 Haru.

In the interview with Hoshino Kaede, she mentioned that her idol and the reason of her joining the Ark were due to her admiration of the Rank 5 Raven, Haru Sakuraba. She stated her great desire to meet her idol and would be leaving for Tokyo from her hometown in Hokkaido to meet him. This piece of information took a few seconds before seeping into Haru's mental sphere.

"HUH?" He exclaimed, finally aware of what the news meant. He reread the words again and again, and finally groaned. Things are going to get complicated.

* * *

><p>Haru's day began normally the next day. He walked to class, which started quite late in the day. On the way up the stairs in the faculty building he met Midori again. She saw him and seemed unhappy about something.<p>

"Morning, Hayashi-san!"

"Didn't I tell you to call me Midori?" She answered coldly.

"Oh sorry, Midori-san..." Haru smiled at her, blushing slightly. She, however, turned and walked away. Haru walked up to her and tried to keep up, but she refused to look at him at all and walked on, accelerating with every step.

"Err… Is something wrong, Midori-san?"

"Nothing." She said without turning to him. She walked towards her seat at an opposite end of the lecture hall from Haru's usual seat. "We can talk anytime right?"

Haru gulped. She WAS expecting him to call! He thought.

It was still early for class, and Haru sat idly at his seat. His mind was occupied by Midori's words and he was not focusing when a new girl walked into the lecture hall. She walked up to the lecture podium and tapped on the microphone, earning everyone's attention, including Haru's.

She's quite a beautiful girl in Haru's honest opinion. He long black hair was tied back in a ponytail and contrasted beautifully with her fair skin and beautiful face. She was not very tall, but her body is visibly fully mature. The air around her and the way she carries herself suggests that she's a very strong and confident girl.

"Hello everyone! My name Kaede Hoshino from Hokkaido! A new student joining your classes starting today!" She announced before looking straight at Haru. "And I'm here to be with Haru Sakuraba!"

"HUH?" Haru shouted, just as the class broke into an excited chatter. Haru turned towards Midori and saw her as surprised as he was. Kaede grinned. More not-so-normal days are ahead for Haru.

_To be continued…_


	6. Phase 6

_**Phase 1-5: Eve of Battle**_

**The Blood Rose, Shibuya, Japan, Connect-02 World;**

It had been a week since Kaede Hoshino joined the Blood Rose, seeing that she is also part of the class now. She proved to be an amazing pilot in her black and purple Enchantress, a medium-weight AC outfitted for omni-range fighting; her PIXIE2 machinegun for close-quarter combat, KINNARA micro missile plus FUNI micro missile for long range bombing and also a blade or a shield on her left arm to further increase her effectiveness in combat.

Already one of the best pilots in the Blood Rose, she was soon moved to Team Rose IX as replacement for Haru Sakuraba. He left the team Rose IX a few day back, requesting to be moved to Rose VI, a logistics and support team, as a leader.

This puzzled Midori, but she gave her permission anyway. There is no guarantee that he would not leave the Blood Rose if his requests are not met, after all he is a great asset to the team. He is also well sought by the other teams, since the video of his battle against the Raven and also against Kira began circulating on the internet.

Hiruma could not accept the change as soon as it happens, but he was soon content with Kaede being on his team that he proudly announced that he had long since got over Haru one day after Kaede joined Rose IX. He also announced that he is in love with Kaede, and nobody could tell if he is joking or not.

Haru's change could not have come at a worse time. During the past week, the Blood Rose had come under fire from the Silver Contrail team, which is the official Connect-02 team for the New Tokyo University. They challenged to a massive Open War for total control of the New Tokyo University area, as well as the right to represent NTU as the premier Connect-02 team in any inter-university competitions in the future.

Midori, for one, was extremely pumped for this War and is spending the most of her time preparing herself and the Blood Rose for it. The Silver Jets team leader, whom is also the current Student Council president, Jun Shirosame, was known to be quite a strong-headed opponent but not a very careful strategist. Midori was thinking of having Kira give his opinion on this matter, but he had been avoiding her and everyone else since his defeat in the hands of Haru Sakuraba.

* * *

><p><strong>New Tokyo University, Tokyo, Japan;<strong>

"Haru." Midori nudged Haru during lunch, around 12 hours before the scheduled date for the Open War. "Did you get the battle plans I sent you last night?"

"Yep."

"So?"

"You want me to comment on it?"

"…." Haru's usual ignorance is starting to annoy Midori. This War is of such importance, and he could not even be bothered about it?

"Why should I comment on it? It is your orders I believe, and I shall comply. Like any soldier would." He continued simply when she did not answer him and then continued to look away from her.

"Hey, Haru-kun." Midori changed tactics, and started to move closer him. It worked and Haru jumped a little. "I need a little help with the tactics, you know. That why I thought that you could at least help me a little bit…" She pouted and looked at him, the usual puppy-eyed look would always do the trick.

"Hayashi-san…"

"No Haru, just Midori is fine." she whispered into the boy's ear making his face grow steadily redder.

"YOU! MIDORI HAYASHI!" A sudden third voice interrupted the (already) awkward moment, as Kaede approached the two of them. She grabbed Haru by the arm and pulled him away from Midori. "I TOLD YOU, HE'S MINE!"

"Haru-kun!" Midori snatched him back from her. The two girls glared daggers into each other as Haru was pulled from both arms like a rag doll.

"STOP IT!" Haru shouted out, yanking his arms free of the girls' pull. They are both shocked by his action, Midori on the verge of tears. "I'm not interested in the War, okay? That is why I'm pulling out of the front lines!"

"Haru… You can't really mean that…" Midori asked. She pulled his arm again, tugging on his sleeve desperately. "You're not going to fight for the Blood Rose? For me?"

Kaede looked away, though sad as well. "I don't understand. You're not the kind of person to walk out of a fight, I know that! You're a Ra-"

"You don't know me Hoshino-san," Haru said sternly to the ponytailed girl before turning to Midori. "And I don't fight for anyone, not even the Blood Rose." He did not spare any more time for them as he quickly turned and walked away from the two stunned girl.

Yuki and another girl that was watching that little scene was amazed by what they just saw. "I knew that that Sakuraba guy is kinda cold, but I would never imagine him being so… Cruel…" Said one of the girls. Yuki just kept quiet and watched as Haru disappeared into a sea of human beings.

* * *

><p>Back in Haru's room at home, he laid back on his bed. He thought about what he said to Kaede and Midori. Pretty rough words, wasn't it? He thought. He turned over to his sides, his mind suddenly full of the two girls. They were, fighting over him… Was they not? He thought, turning to the other side.<p>

A beep from his mobile phone roused him; he quickly picked it up and checked the incoming mail. It was from Midori, requesting him to get online to Connect-02. The tone of the message was urgent from her addressing his title as Rose VI leader, so Haru immediately picked up his gear and logged in.

* * *

><p><strong>Blood Rose Base, Shinjuku, Connect-02 World;<strong>

"What is it?" He reported in, seeing many of the other members of the team already assembled. He joined in next to Hiruma, his former Rose IXth leader. Midori just nodded when she sees him.

"I'm glad to see that all of you team leaders could quickly respond to my summoning." She said looking at the leaders of Rose I through XII. Was it his imagination, or did she just glanced over him much more quickly than everyone else. "The Silver Contrails had issued us the official Open War declaration just a few minutes ago, and we have confirmed that the War will commence in 5 hours time."

"5 hours? That's a little sudden right? I was expecting it will be about another 10 hours, you know, tomorrow morning." Hiruma commented.

"Unfortunately, the battle will commence tonight. Hope everyone had made no plans for the night. If you did, cancel them" Midori answered. "The battlefield had also been decided. We are going to fight in the Eastern Mountain range in an area spanning 400 square kilometers." She continued as she called up a tactical map on everyone's visor.

"That's a big battle we're getting ourselves into." Ichika Kujo, the leader of the Rose V, the defense unit of the Blood Rose. "Our forward operating base shall be here?" Ichika asked, marking a point on the map. Haru noted that the FOB is located near the southern edge of the combat zone, surrounded by valleys on the south and forest strong defense point, though in this kind of battles a strong defense is not going to be enough.

"Have you all read up on the battle plan I drew up last night?" she asked, opening the file for everyone to see. "Adjusting to our combat area, I came to a conclusion on our combat formation."

She erased the current tactical map on the screen and called up a new one with numbered red rose dots marking the map. "This shall be our starting points according to Teams."

On the front-most was Rose I which was followed closely behind by Rose VII and Rose II on the left and right sides respectively. Flanking over to a mountainous path up to the left side of the zone was Rose IX supported by Rose III and IV. Rose V and VI would standby and be on operation base guard duty, something Haru gladly agreed to. Team VIII would as usual be in charge of long-range artillery support.

"And that's our plan." Midori said when she had done briefing the others. There was a moment of silence which was broken by Kira, whom had been quiet since the start of the meeting.

"Team Silver Contrail had been known for their vast resource line. It is not surprising if they would call in reinforcements from outside, mercenaries, since this is an Open War."

"Don't we have reinforcements as well?" Hiruma asked.

Midori shook her head. "We don't have the money to afford mercs. We only have ourselves out there."

While everyone else is still chit-chatting about the upcoming battle, Haru excused himself and walked out of the briefing room. He was about to disconnect from the game, Midori appeared next to him.

"Thank you. For being here." She told him. He turned his back to her, silent. She looked up and saw him not moving, not even trying to disconnect just yet.

"I'm glad that you're still supporting me. Even after what happened earlier… If you don't want to fight I un…"

"I'll fight." Haru cut by her sentence, much to her surprise. "I'll fight."

"I'll be counting on you then, Haru-kun." She said with a smile before her avatar kissed his lightly on the cheek. Before the startled Haru could react, she disconnected, her avatar disappearing into digital data.

In the real world, Haru was reading another that was e-mail sent to his Raven's mailbox. His eyes were wide with disbelief, his fists clenched in fury.

* * *

><p>The Open War was just a couple of hours away and Haru's avatar was standing on a grassy cliff overlooking a very rocky gorge. He looked down to the large armored trailer hidden within the gorge. He then looked away over the horizon, where a small base was being erected with a Blood Rose flag flapping proudly under the simulated wind.<p>

Haru looked over the horizon for a while before smiling to himself and turning his back on the cliff towards his all terrain vehicle parked nearby. He opened the door and entered the vehicle, which was clearly marked with the famous symbol of the Raven's Ark.

* * *

><p><strong>Blood Rose Forward Operation Base, Eastern Mountain Range, Connect-02 World;<strong>

"It's TIME!" Hiruma shouted excitedly into the captain's chat channel. The online clock is ticking a few minutes short of midnight, and the whole of team Blood Rose had assembled near their temporary forward operation base, each in their stations and ready to roll out.

"Chill it out, Hiruma. Save your energy to kick some Contrail behind." Ichika said, clearly smiling. Ichika had rolled out of his AC hangar in his Byakushiki middle-weight defense orientated armored core. The AC's pure white armor shone brightly in the digital sunlight giving an image of grandeur and style, which a contrast to Ichika's humble and light-hearted demeanor.

"Hiruma-san!" Kaede called out, boosting over to him on her Enchantress AC. The magnificent AC braked gracefully into position, with its pilot skillfully using booster counterbalance to steady the heavy mech as it stopped abruptly short of the two Team leaders' AC.

"Yes, Kaede-chan~? How may your brave and strong leader help you?"

"Have you seen, Sakuraba-kun? I didn't see him anywhere since the war preparation started…" Kaede answered, much to Hiruma's dismay. "Urm… He's-"

"I saw his AC over by the western wing of the base. That's where the VIth team is placed." Ichika interrupted before Hiruma could answer her. He said this calmly though next to him, Hiruma was completely bewildered.

"But Hiruma told me that they're assigned to the East…." She said, looking curiously at the said person. "Oh well, maybe he's mistaken. What's with the battle coming up soon! Anyway, good luck and see you soon, Ichika-taicho, Hiruma-taicho!" She continued happily before boosting off again to find Haru. Hiruma looked on sadly as she disappeared.

"I can't believe you'd lie to her, man."

"What else could I have done? She's got her eyes all over that dude! *sigh*… Maybe I don't stand a chance…" Hiruma ended his sentence sadly. Ichika laughed, bumping his AC's fist on Hiruma's AC's core. "Don't be too down about it, man. I can introduce you to many other more beautiful girls; just tell me when you're free. For friendship, I'll knock off a few yen for my services."

"Sounds like a deal, my friend."

* * *

><p>"Sakuraba-kun!" Kaede's sudden appearance surprised Haru a little as he was organizing his team's defense of the base.<p>

"Hoshino." Haru spoke to her in a heavily encrypted private channel.

"Did you get that message as well?"

"Yes. I'm afraid we won't be the only Ravens in this fight."

_To be continued…._

_**Author's Notes**__: I want to take this chance to apologize to everyone for the late update, I was teaching in a summer camp during the last few months as well as being out on a trip to Europe. I'll try to update (ir)regularly in the nearest time. Also, I would like to thank everyone that took their time to read this! Thank you, I would have stopped a long time ago if it wasn't for you guys! Please do continue supporting this story! _


	7. Phase 7

**Phase 1-6: Battle**

**Eastern Mountain Range, Connect-02 World;**

It had been 5 minutes since all hell broke loose. The Blood Rose and The Silver Contrail had sent out their vanguards forth, and where both clashed against each other in the thick forest midway between both teams' forward bases. Led by Rose I, the Blood Rose's vanguards found themselves pinned by the enemy heavy fire and is unable to move.

Midori had her hands full just dodging and returning fire to the enemy vanguard when Hiruma called her over a secure line, telling her that his unit had been ambushed by the enemy and is stuck in a difficult position.

Midori bit her lips. The enemy predicted her moves completely, and now both her vanguard and flank is unable to advance. Things look bleak, and it did not help that her AC had been overheating from the enemy's napalm bombardment on her position.

Beside her, Kira fought on bravely with the other members of the vanguard by his side. His energy round EO fired continually from behind covers, but to no effect. He is awfully quiet though ever since the war began.

"Sakuraba-kun! How is the base defense holding up?" Midori shouted, but is met by static. "Damn it!" Her AC stood up, firing her twin lasers, only to be met by a whole battalion of armored vehicles firing at her. She let a few rounds of the tanks' cannons hit her as she aligned her sights for her missile attack, her AC rocking violently with every hit she took. Her AC was not built for such extreme damage absorption.

"Eat this!" She shouted, letting loose her missile barrage. She quickly ducked back into cover soon after and took a moment to smile as her indicators signaled 'HIT' on her missile attack. She had only had a second to relish her victory when suddenly a pitch black AC dropped in from the sky in front of her.

"Hello." Came the voice from the open channel. A KARASAWA rifle barrel. A flash of light.

* * *

><p>Hiruma had never seen anyone pilot an AC like Kaede did. Their unit had been ambushed by the enemy while mobilizing towards a rocky part of the canyon where the enemy hid behind large rocks and in caves, deactivated, while waiting for them to pass. A force of about 6 ACs.<p>

Without Kaede, they would have been wiped out. Her Enchantress AC flitted on the barren battlefield like a butterfly, masterfully managing her energy while dodging multiple enemy attacks is a feat that Hiruma had only seen matched by Haru a while back.

The enemy forces had been thinned to a mere 3 ACs, with one totaled by Kaede's single effort. Hiruma's Tropic Quake stepped forward, firing his shoulder mounted CR-WB82R02 rockets one of the surviving Silver AC, a quad with multiple energy weapons that was sniping at his unit from behind some rock formation.

The unguided warheads slammed hard into the AC, while some missed and hit the canyon walls. A small quake ensued as some rubble broke off from the cliff above and came crashing down. Dust and dirt were thrown up into the air by the impact.

"KAEDE-CHAN!" Hiruma shouted. The rest of his team escaped the avalanche safely, except for Kaede whom disappeared momentarily from his radar. He felt as if his heartbeat stopped for a second before hearing the familiar roar of an AC's booster.

"Hiruma-sempai! That was too close!" Hiruma could almost hear her pouting. "Don't do that again! You don't want to lose your best pilot do you?"

"The enemy had retreated, we've pushed them back." Maki reported. "What a shame, we're still in great shape for a second go!"

"Let's not get too happy, Maki." Hiruma reminded his fellow IXth member. "There might still be enemy in the vicinity."

"Oh come on… What's the worse…" Her words were cut short when a sapphire lance of light pierced through her AC, Sunlight Magic's, head unit. The main camera and communication center of the AC glowed for a split second before exploding.

"Maki!" Kaede screamed while Hiruma scanned the sky. There, on a cliff quite far over the horizon, a poorly camouflaged gold and white lightweight biped stood proudly, its FENRIR sniper rifle held aloft in challenge.

"You bastard!" Hiruma kicked his Overboost into high gear, sending his AC flying at top speed towards the enemy AC. Beside him, Shinji quietly followed with his own Overboost. Even without saying anything, Kaede could sense the cold fury within the silent pilot's action.

The unknown AC fired its FENRIR again, striking the Tropic Quake in its leg even while it is moving. The shift in momentum from the attack deterred the mech. Hiruma however, refused to give in. He held up his shoulder rockets again and let loose, multiple dumb fire warheads heading directly for the enemy AC.

The unknown took into the air, where Shinji's CrossBlade had been waiting. Without a word, Shinji hailed the unknown with his PIXIE2 machinegun. In a show of near impossible grace, the unknown dodged the first volley.

"Get him up close, Shinji! He doesn't have any close up weapons!" Hiruma ordered through the Team Comm. The unknown had cannon-like weapon on its shoulder, which Hiruma is sure would pointless unless the AC could land and kneel to use the weapon. Landing is something Hiruma would never let the enemy do, as he let loose his newly purchase KINNARA micro missiles at the unknown.

The unknown pilot is highly skilled though, dodging Hiruma's missile as well as another machinegun volley from Shinji.

"Tch… Sit still, you little greasy monkey." Hiruma hissed as he took aim again. Shinji hissed into the comm-link as well, clearly frustrated. The unknown had no chance to counterattack however, as Shinji kept a good job staying up in the unknown's face.

"Enough of this." A communication signal came from the open channel. Before anyone could reply, the unknown did the impossible. It deployed its back cannon, a linear cannon apparently and buffeted Shinji's CrossBlade with five rapid shot at point-blank range.

The swift assault damaged the CrossBlade's core critically. The main booster cut itself off momentarily, causing the purple and white AC to fall out of the sky and crash into a cliff-face before falling into a ravine below.

"Shinji! Respond! Shinji!" Hiruma shouted into his communicator, but there was no response. He was distracted while doing this that he did not realize when the unknown had closed the gap between them. He now looked directly into the barrel of the unknown's linear cannon, a moment before a bright flash blinded him and knocked his AC down into the dirt.

"Hiruma-sempai!" Kaede's voice was like music to Hiruma's eyes as his visor regained vision of the battlefield. He had feared he would lose all visual due to the attack. Luckily his EYE-4 head unit's armor did its job perfectly and protected the delicate electronics.

The unknown is currently engaging the unknown, the loud pinging of the linear rounds against her left arm shield deafening. There was a data feed coming in from Kaede's Enchantress, it was the data on the Unknown. Hiruma's eyes widened as he read it.

"Hiruma-sempai! Please support!" Kaede begged. She is clearly overwhelmed by the unknown's speed and overall mobility. "Hiruma-sempai!"

"An… Raven?" Hiruma stuttered. He was still stunned by the unbelievable information he was just shown. "Rank 7, Rai-Oh? OP-INTENSIFY?"

Hiruma was jolted awake as by the Enchantress crashing down in front of his Tropic Quake, under fire from the Rai-Oh's (lit: Thunder King) CR-WB03LGL2 Crest model linear cannon barrage. "Get a grip, Ruka!" Shinji's voice came over the intercom. His middleweight CrossBlade climbed up from the ravine it fell through earlier, it had lost its left arm but still functional. "Raven or whatever. We still have the number advantage." Shinji spoke calmly. "We can take him if we work together."

"Don't count me out just yet, Cap'n!" Maki cheered, her damaged Sunlight Magic lining up behind Shinji's AC. "Took me a while but I finally figured out that auxiliary communication control that Shinji thought me earlier!"

Hiruma was silent for a moment while he readjusted his gear to get into a more comfortable position. He smirked, smiled and then let out his trademark excitable laughter. "Rose IXth is not gonna go down eh? Shinji! Kaede! Let's show this stuck up bitch who's boss!"

As if accepting the challenge, the Rai-Oh charged forward, its laser blade in full effect. Team IXth scattered, the CrossBlade turning to fire its PIXIE2 machinegun. The Rai-Oh took to the skies, the machinegun rounds hitting the dirt beneath its feet. It turned its FENRIR energy sniper rifle towards the CrossBlade, but a missile lock made it change its mind. The Rai-Oh barely got out the KINNARA volley from the Tropic Quake, two of the missiles striking its left leg.

The Enchantress entered the fray, its PIXIE3 machinegun scoring hits on the Rai-Oh whom returned fire with its high velocity LGL2 linear cannon. Five full shots hit the Enchantress squarely in her core, shooting it down.

"Kaede-chan!" Maki's Sunlight Magic moved up to support the Enchantress as it tries to regain its footing with Hiruma's Tropic Quake providing cover fire with his grenade launcher and rockets.

"I'm okay, Maki-chan." Kaede said, getting back on her feet. Shinji went up to face the Rai-Oh again. This time the CrossBlade engaged its SYAKATSURA micro missiles and fired from long range together with his FUNI extensions. Four missiles flew in a wide area chasing the white AC, only to be easily avoided by the Raven's acrobatic maneuvers.

Aggravated, Shinji pushed his CrossBlade forward, laser blade at the ready. The Rai-Oh met this challenge head-on, his own ELF3 high heat laser blade lancing forward. The green and orange blades met, sparks flying between the two ACs. Unluckily for Shinji, the Rai-Oh had the higher ground and the CrossBlade is having trouble keeping airborne with the Rai-Oh's superior boosters pushing it down.

In a desperate move to avoid being forced down, Shinji powered down his thrusters and blade at the same time while at the same time angling his AC to allow the Rai-Oh to pass him. His plan was to have the Rai-Oh be pulled down by both the gravity and his own boosters thrust and crash. His plans were in vain however as the Rai-Oh had also powered down his boosters and rather boosted back up. The Rai-Oh chained his move with another full magazine volley of LGL2 linear rounds; the five high speed rounds impacting upon the CrossBlade, crashing it into the ground.

The Rai-Oh was not given breathing room however as both Sunlight Magic and Enchantress flew up to face him. Maki opened fire with her CR-WR98L laser rifle, violet beams narrowly dodged by the Rai-Oh. The Rai-Oh countered with its FENRIR, the purple lances hitting the Sunlight Magic , though the energy shot carried not momentum, the heat melted down a significant amount of armor on the pink and blue AC.

The Enchantress went up for another blade duel, its CR-WL79LB2's green beam blade narrowly missing the Rai-Oh's white armor. The Rai-Oh countered with more linear rounds, but missed completely as the Enchantress killed its boosters to lose altitude quickly. The Rai-Oh took a full burst of PIXIE3 machinegun fire in retaliation, which it is unable to avoid in time.

This moment of vulnerability is used by Hiruma to unleash a full bear of KINNARA micro missiles, which is joined by Maki's EMPUSA and RM4 missile combo. The combination attack lit up the sky with a massive fireball. From the inferno a single large debris emerged, where from it a flaming figure of an AC flew out of.

The Rai-Oh was burnt and badly damaged, the white armor now black with soot and heated metal. It could not retain altitude for long due to the heat, and soon after emerging from the flames it crashed down a burning wreck. A moment later, another explosion ensued and surely, that was the end of the Rank 7 Raven, Rai-Oh.

* * *

><p>Midori is breathing heavily now. Her White Blade is the only AC on her team left standing, with Haruka's Monstro and Yuki's Lioness now in ruins behind her. Kira's Abrams is now supporting the black AC which Midori was sure was the same one that Haru had defeated a while back on their joint mission.<p>

"Kira-kun! What is the meaning of this?" She begged again. Her AC's head unit is at 25% functionality and she is losing visual on her main camera. Through the static and communication jamming, she could not hear Kira's answer but sure enough she could understand the spite in his voice.

"Is this all?" The pilot of the black AC's voice could be heard. "Not good enough." The black AC had its KARASAWA trained on the White Blade's core, ready to pull the trigger. Midori could only close her eyes as the she waited for the end of the battle. The end of team Blood Rose.

There was no flash of blue light as Midori had expected, but instead a loud clang was heard as high speed bullets but the black AC, driving it away from the White Blade. Midori could hear Kira cursing, his twin grenade cannons roaring as it fired away at the newcomer to the battle.

When Midori finally opened her eyes again, there stood a blue and gold middleweight AC in front of her , shielding her from the black AC and the Abrams. Her IFF could not recognize the new AC however.

"Haru…-kun?" She asked.

"Stand back." It was surely Haru's voice. However there's a strange aura about him, even through the virtual space the massive power of his focus could be felt.

A strange notification tab opened on Midori's visor.

"The…. Conquista?" She questioned. Then, an unknown computerized voice filled the open channel.

**CONQUISTA: INTENSIFY_MAX ACTIVATED**

* * *

><p><em>To be continued…<em>


End file.
